Athletics

Nguyễn Trung Cường takes gold in the men's 5,000m event at the Taiwan Athletics Open on June 2 in Chinese Taipei. Photo 24h.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Trung Cường successfully completed his double of title at the Taiwan Athletics Open on June 2 in Chinese Taipei.

Cường strictly followed tactic of the coaching board, maintaining himself in the middle position of the leading group of the men's 5,000m race.

The 24-year-old runner followed Roni Syianturi of Indonesia in most time before running past him when it was about 200m left to the finish line.

Cường won gold with a time of 14:18.03. Syianturi was about seven seconds after him.

Sonny Wagdos of the Philippines came third on 14:36.79.

On June 1, Cường took his first gold in the men's 3,000m steeplechase event.

Later, the female runners bagged another title for Việt Nam in the women's 4x400m relay.

The quartet -- Nguyễn Thị Ngọc, Quách Thị Lan, Hoàng Thị Minh Hạnh and Nguyễn Thị Hằng -- took their top podium from two tournaments within two weeks.

Running in the sixth lane, the Asian relay champions didn’t face any trouble from their rivals. Ngọc went ahead and quickly left all other runners behind after the first 100m. Her teammates continued increasing the gap and Hằng finished the race in a time of 3:31.88. They set a new record of the tournament.

Chinese youth team came second timing 3:41.69 and team of Asia Biomedical Technology were third on 3:56.99.

Despite winning the gold, the Vietnamese could not secure their ticket to the Olympics as expected. The heavy rain prevented them from running faster than 3:27.29 to advance in the world top 16 which will receive official spots in Paris.

Another Vietnamese medal winner in the Taiwan Open was SEA Games champion Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà who finished third in the women's 800m event.

Her time of 2:10.55 made her behind Tharushi Dilsara Karunarathna Dissanayake Mudiyanselage of Sri Lanka (2:05.74) and Shiomi Aayano of Japan (2:05.99).

Việt Nam ended the two-day tournament with four golds and one bronze, placing at fourth in the medal tally. Top three delegations were Japan with six golds, South Korea with five golds and Thailand with four golds. VNS